By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -Crowds massed across the U.S. for more than 2,600 planned "No Kings" protests on Saturday against what participants view as President Donald Trump's autocratic tendencies and anti-democratic actions.
Millions of people were expected to turn out by day's end for rallies in major cities, small towns and even some foreign capitals, according to organizers.
The turnout, which built on the first "No Kings" protests in June, reflected frustration among participants over administration moves including criminal prosecutions of the president's perceived political enemies, nationwide immigration raids and the sending of federal troops into U.S. cities.
“There is nothing more American than saying,‘We don’t have kings’ and exercising our right to peacefully protest,” said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, a progressive organization that is the main organizer of the "No Kings" marches.
In Washington, D.C., demonstrators filled the street as they marched toward the U.S. Capitol, chanting and carrying signs, U.S. flags and balloons. Many people -- and their dogs -- wore costumes in a peaceful, carnival-style atmosphere.
Four marchers dressed in prison stripes and large caricature heads of Trump and other officials displayed a sign saying "Impeach Trump Again."
Protester Aliston Elliot, wearing a Statue of Liberty headpiece and holding a "No Wannabe Dictators" sign, said: "We want to show our support for democracy and for fighting (for) what is right. I'm against the overreach of power."
Events in New York City, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta also drew large crowds. In downtown Houston, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Daniel Aboyte Gamez, 30, joined a few hundred other protesters.
"I don't understand what's going on in this nation right now," said Gamez, who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. "As a Marine Corps vet, I understand that the United States was founded upon action against tyrants, against kings."
Since Trump took office 10 months ago, his administration has ramped up immigration enforcement, moved to slash the federal workforce and cut funding to elite universities over such campus flashpoints as pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, ethnic and racial diversity and transgender athletes.
Residents in some major cities have seen National Guard troops sent in by the president, who argues they are needed to protect immigration agents and to help combat crime.
TRUMP SAYS HE IS NOT A KING
Trump has said very little about Saturday’s protests. But in an interview with Fox Business aired on Friday he said that “they’re referring to me as a king -- I’m not a king.”
More than 300 grassroots groups helped organize Saturday’s marches, Greenberg said. The American Civil Liberties Union said it has given legal training to tens of thousands of people who will act as marshals at the various marches, and those people were also trained in de-escalation. No Kings ads and information have blanketed social media to drive turnout.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat, have backed the marches along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump.
Senior Democratic lawmakers also voiced support for the movement.
"Today’s No Kings rallies are an affirmation of what America is all about. We are a democracy," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X.
U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries added separately, "Peaceful protest against an out of control President is the American way."
In June, 2,000-plus No Kings protests took place, mostly peacefully, on the same day that Trump celebrated his 79th birthday and held a military parade in Washington.
REPUBLICANS CLAIM PROTESTS ARE ANTI-AMERICAN
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, on Friday echoed a common refrain among his party, labeling the "No Kings" protests "the hate America rally."
Other Republicans have blasted Democrats and marches like "No Kings" as motivating people to carry out political violence, especially in the wake of the September assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk, a close confidant of Trump and key members of his administration.
Dana Fisher, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and the author of several books on American activism, forecast that Saturday could see the largest protest turnout in modern U.S. history.
She expected that over 3 million people would take part based on registrations and participation in the June events.
Fisher said the protests were “not going to change Trump’s policies. But it might embolden elected officials at all levels who are in opposition to Trump.”
The first of Saturday's rallies were overseas with a couple of hundred protesters at the U.S. Embassy in London, and more demonstrations in Madrid and Barcelona.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks, AJ Vicens and David Shephardson; editing by Marguerita Choy and Cynthia Osterman)
